Arthur Buckner “Buck” Bailey was born in San Saba, TX in 1896, and played college baseball at Texas A&M from 1916-1921, interrupted by service in World War I, and then at Bethany College, WV. After college he coached high school sports and played semi-pro ball in California, where he met Orin “Babe” Hollingbery.
When Hollingbery was offered the head football coach position at the State College of Washington (WSC) in 1926, Bailey accompanied him as an assistant coach, and was offered the head baseball position in spring of 1927. Excepting three years during World War II when WSC did not play baseball, he remained in that position through the end of the 1961 season. May 6, 1961 was declared Buck Bailey Day on campus.
Buck Bailey married Frances Hamilton on June 5, 1960. Both were killed in an automobile accident on October 28, 1964, three years after Buck’s retirement.
The collection consists of about 150 congratulatory letters and telegrams to Arthur “Buck” Bailey on the event of his 1961 retirement after coaching baseball at Washington State College / University from 1927 to 1961. The letters were collected for Buck Bailey Day on campus, May 6, 1961, when a banquet and other events were held in his honor.
The letters come from former players, local officials, personal friends, sports writers, and baseball players, coaches, and executives. Notable names found inside include Gene Autry, Royal Brougham, Bing Crosby, Turk Edwards, John Galbreath, Hank Greenberg, Mel Hein, Lee MacPhail, Bill Veeck, and Thomas Yawkey.
Also included are some Buck Bailey Day programs and name badges, and some newspaper clippings.
The individual letters are arranged alphabetically by last name of the creators. A few where the last names could not be determined are at the back.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions may apply.
[Item description]
Buck Bailey Retirement Letters, 1961 (Cage 972)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
This material was transferred to WSU Libraries' MASC by Steve Schnabel and Christina Rockett of University Development on July 19, 1984 and retained as UA1984-25.
University Archivist Mark O’English processed this collection in November, 2024.
These papers came in as part of a set of WSU Foundation Papers (UA1984-25) and were parsed out of those in November 2024 when preliminary processing of them began.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.